Air patrol cadets earn prestigious awards

April 2, 2014

VIENNA - Several cadets at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station have been the recent recipients of prestigious awards over the last week.

Civil Air Patrol cadets Megan Beatty and Auby Lindauer received the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award and promotion to cadet colonel, while Kyle McDonough of Hermitage and Michael Pack of Cortland received the Wright Brothers Award and promotion to cadet staff sergeant.

The Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award is Civil Air Patrol's highest cadet honor and is presented to cadets who have demonstrated excellence in leadership, character, fitness and aerospace education. On average, only two out of 1,000 cadets earn the award.

The Wright Brothers Award is the first milestone in the cadet program named after aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright. To be eligible for this promotion, cadets McDonough and Pack had to pass comprehensive aerospace, leadership, drill, and physical fitness tests as well as participate actively in squadron functions.

In addition the YARS Composite Squadron's CyberPatriot Team, Team Hercules, has ended its competition season as the MidAtlantic Regional Champions and has placed in the top two percent of all Civil Air Patrol teams in the nation competing in the CyberPatriot VI Cyber Defense Competition.

CyberPatriot program began to help build interest in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields and in the growing field of cyber security. The team from Youngstown consists of Sean Beatty of Austintown, Joseph Dean of Bloomingdale, Michael Gentile of Niles, Carl Lester of Kinsman, Harry Pasku of Hubbard, and Andrew Stoneburner of Lake Milton. They are coached by Major Paul Creed III and assisted by 1st Lt. Diana Beatty.

The Civil Air Patrol is the civilian auxiliary of the Air Force and cyber security is a significant focus for the Air Force, and the Cadet Program provides opportunities for the learning, maturing, accepting, and nurturing of leadership to young Americans from 12 to 20 years of age.